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| Watford stave off threat of administration Watford have avoided administration by paying back the £5 million that the club owed their former chairman. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Sergio GarcÃa to see specialist as fears grow for hand injury • 'Even with the rest it's not better and we're a little bit worried'• GarcÃa wants to be fit for Abu Dhabi Golf ChampionshipSergio GarcÃa will visit a specialist about a hand injury that he has admitted is becoming a concern. The Spaniard has not played for three weeks but is still feeling pain in his right hand."The hand is not well," GarcÃa said. "It's not healing as fast as we thought it would. What's clear is that even with the rest it's not better and we're a little bit worried."GarcÃa said he suffered the sprain during the third round of last month's Dubai World Championship, where the Spaniard finished seventh."I've tried to swing and I can't," he said. "I'd like to start the tournament at Abu Dhabi completely healed."GarcÃa, 29, won one tournament and earned €1.66m (£1.5m) in prize money this year. The €2.3m Abu Dhabi Golf Championship runs from 21 to 24 January.Golfguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Dark clouds over African Cup of Nations The passenger jet began its descent over Luanda airport. Then it rose again, sharply. The athletes on board stopped their banter and looked at each other, puzzled. They could not land for a while, the players of Zimbabwe’s national football team were told from the cockpit. Shells had lit up the sky. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Joe Hart in the right place for Fabio Capello Fabio Capello is considering giving a full international debut to Joe Hart in England’s friendly against Egypt at Wembley on March 3. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Horse racing: Today's best bets and the latest news from Leopardstown Today's best bets plus the latest news from today's big meeting at LeopardstownToday's best bets, by Chris CookThe winner of last year's Champion Hurdle let down his fans yesterday, today we get to see if the runner-up can do any better. Celestial Halo (2.45) was beaten just a neck by Punjabi at Cheltenham in March and can fairly be said to be a stronger contender this year at the age of six. He can prove it by winning the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown this afternoon.The gelding was a wide-margin winner on his reappearance at Wincanton, when he carried top weight in a handicap and hammered Mamlook by 10 lengths. The runner-up was an easy winner at Ascot yesterday on his first run since. Celestial Halo was mugged by Khyber Kim at Cheltenham last month but he was giving 4lb to the winner, whose yard was flying at the time, and Paul Nicholls reckons that his charge is in better shape now, having been freshened up for this.There is probably not much to choose between Celestial Halo and Solwhit, who has won top-class races on four of his last five starts. The difference for punters is that Solwhit is odds-on while his rival is 2-1. In my book, their chance is about the same, with the English raider shading it by a fraction.At a less glamorous level, Alastair Lidderdale is in form for what seems like the first time in ages and his Take It There (3.10) is a tempting 5-1 in the staying handicap chase at Market Rasen. This mare won round here twice in November and can be forgiven her defeat at Taunton when sent out again shortly after the second of those. Sharpened up with a spin on the Flat at Wolverhampton, she is preferred to the market-leaders Quazy De Joie and Extra Smooth.Towcester will, as ever, take some getting on today's heavy going but Man Of The Moment (2.50) has done it before, having won the same race last year. He will be sharper than for his reappearance spin around Market Rasen and, at 4-1, is a better option than the unreliable Gunship, favourite by dint of having won last time.Rite Of Passage1.45pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Dermot Weld described Rite Of Passage as "a natural" after his easy win in the maiden hurdle, but has yet to decide whether he will line up against Dunguib, the hot favourite, in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham."My thoughts would be to give him one more run over hurdles and then if that goes to plan obviously he'll go to one of the novice hurdles at Cheltenham," Weld said. "Whether it's over two miles [in the Supreme] or two miles five [Neptune Investment Novice Hurdle], we'll decide nearer to the time."He won over two miles and three furlongs in a bumper at Naas and over a mile and six on the Flat, so he does stay very well. He's a very laid back and relaxed individual, and there's all the gears there. The second [Grey Soldier] was a very good horse in France on the flat, and he got the run through so this fella really had to show the gears he had. He'll have learned a lot from that."He's a natural jumper, and a stronger horse this year. He's always jumped super, he pinged the first as if it was a fence almost. He's a very athletic individual and hopefully we can have a lot of fun with him."Ladbrokes quoted odds of 12-1 for Rite Of Pasage for both the Supreme and the Neptune.Mor, Mor2.10pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Henry de Bromhead already has a major chance in the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham with the former Irish Champion Hurdle winner Sizing Europe, and may find an alternative engagement for An Cathaoir Mor, who came from well off the pace to beat Sports Line in the Irish equivalent."That was some ride [by David Casey]," de Bromhead said. "We took a bit of a chance running him within a week [of his last victory] but as I said last Sunday, he's the one horse you could do it with, he's just got such a tough constitution."He has to come late. I did say to David that I wasn't sure when he was 20 lengths off them down the back, but he said that this horse [usually] travels so easily and he was struggling to travel early on, so they must have been going some gallop."He just had to sit and wait, and he said that when they turned in, he thought he was a certainty. Whether he's a Cheltenham horse, I don't know. He loves testing conditions and he's such a heavy-topped horse that I'm not sure you'd want to risk him around there. The Powers Gold Cup would be a possibility, but he definitely wants it soft."An Cathaoir Mor is 16-1 for the Arkle Trophy with Ladbrokes, while Sports Line is unchanged at 14-1 with William Hill.Solwhit steams in3.30pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Charles Byrnes's quiet monotone makes him sound like a man waking up from a general anaesthetic, but he has plenty to be excited about as he has the new Champion Hurdle favourite with some bookmakers."That was fantastic," Byrnes said after Solwhit's defeat of Donnas Palm and Sublimity in the Irish Champion Hurdle. "That's all he wanted really, a proper-run race from start to finish, and he got it today. At Newcastle [in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle] they absolutely walked and then sprinted for three furlongs, and even the last day here [at the Christmas meeting], they went a reasonable pace but not a proper one."He's a brilliant jumper, the fastest jumper I've ever had, and he's so calm and takes everything really easily. I told Davy [Russell] not to let Celestial Halo get more than three or four lengths up, and as it turned out, he wasn't the one to be watching."Paul Nicholls hopes that better ground at the Cheltenham Festival will help Celestial Halo, who could finish only fourth, to bridge the gap with the winner in the Champion Hurdle. "To be honest, he looked like a three-miler in that ground," Nicholls said. "Ruby [Walsh] just said that he's not totally convinced that ground suits him. Both times he's run really well at Cheltenham it's been on decent ground, and we just have to hope that the spring ground suits him better. If not, he'll be jumping fences after that. He's got to improve on what he's done to win, that's for sure, but then they all have."Solwhit is as short as 3-1 favourite for the Champion Hurdle with Boylesports, but unchanged at 6-1 with Ladbrokes. Sublimity is 14-1 (from 25-1) with William Hill, while Celestial Halo is out to 16-1 with the same firm.Horse racingHorse racing tipsChris Cookguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |